A biased look at psychology in the world

November 29, 2012

The Brain of the Psychopath

Psychopaths impose large costs on society, as they are frequently
habitual, violent criminals. The pervasive nature of emotional and
behavioral symptoms in psychopathy suggests that several associated
brain regions may contribute to the disorder. Studies employing a
variety of methods have converged on a set of brain regions in
paralimbic cortex and limbic areas that appear to be dysfunctional in
psychopathy. A study published in Journal of Abnormal Psychology further tests this hypothesis by
investigating structural abnormalities using voxel-based morphometry in a
sample of incarcerated men (N = 296). Psychopathy was associated with
decreased regional gray matter in several paralimbic and limbic areas,
including bilateral parahippocampal, amygdala, and hippocampal regions,
bilateral temporal pole, posterior cingulate cortex, and orbitofrontal
cortex. The consistent identification of paralimbic cortex and limbic
structures in psychopathy across diverse methodologies strengthens the
interpretation that these regions are crucial for understanding neural
dysfunction in psychopathy.